Welcome to my webpage!
I am Full Instructional Professor in the Committee on International Relations at the University of Chicago. I am also a Research Fellow at the Kiphart Center for Global Health and Social Development, and a faculty affiliate with the Department of Political Science and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago. During the 2020-21 academic year, I was a Visiting Fellow at the Chicago Project on
Security and Threats (CPOST) research center.
My research focuses on international and human security with a particular emphasis on terrorism and political violence, as well as forced migration and refugee integration. I recently served as PI for a research project that explored perceptions and attitudes toward Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Currently, I am working on a collaborative research project which explores the roles of frontline health workers in refugee integration. My other projects explore the determinants of terrorist strategy, organizational dynamics of terrorism, and the role of women in terrorism and counterterrorism.
My work appears in Comparative Politics, Journal of Global Security Studies, Terrorism and Political Violence, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, International Journal of Conflict and Violence, Politics & Policy, and Journal of Political Science Education.
At UChicago, I teach courses on international security, terrorism and political violence and Middle East Politics. I also serve as a thesis advisor and preceptor. In 2025, I received the University of Chicago’s Division of the Social Sciences Award for Excellence in M.A. Advising & Mentoring. In 2026, I was awarded an Honorable Mention for the International Studies Association’s Deborah Gerner Innovative Teaching Award.
I received my Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Colorado Boulder specializing in International Relations and Comparative Politics. Prior to joining the University of Chicago, I was an Associate Professor (with tenure) of International Relations at Webster University in St. Louis.
